A message from Alexa
by rohaja
Summary: Dr.Zoll watches a videotape. Also starring: Methos, Joe and Alexa


Many thanks to my wonderful beta goldmustang for her help!

Hope you enjoy! (And I love feedback :-)

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**A message from Alexa**

"So he still isn't aware that we tape the backroom of his bar?" Dr. Zoll asked while she stared at the small videotape that lay on the big wooden desk in front of her.

"No," Mathieu, a black-haired watcher, who was sitting at the other side of the desk, answered with what to Zoll's ears was a too shrill-sounding voice. With a slight frown on her face, she looked up and scrutinized him a bit more closely. He looked very proud of himself (a bit too proud for her taste) as he returned her look. " I'm absolutely sure, Doc; he still doesn't suspect anything. We did an excellent job." The smile on his face widened in a way that made him appear even more arrogant to her eyes.

Not liking him the slightest bit, Zoll continued to scrutinize him a bit longer with an intensive stare (especially perfected for such moments) until he finally looked away; a trace of nervousness now shown on his face as he repeated, "really, I'm absolutely sure. We did everything possible to…"

"Good," she interrupted him, not the smallest bit interested in his story. "Continue with the observation." She forced a cold smile on her face, "I'll see you next Friday... Goodbye."

He blinked for a second, obviously a bit stunned by the abrupt dismissal. "Sure…," he stammered as he got up, almost knocking the chair over in his hurry. "Till Friday then," he murmured as he made his way to the door.

Dr. Zoll once again looked at the tape in front of her. Her mind registered the sound of the closing door but she no longer paid any attention to it. Instead, she stared at the small black letters that were written on the cover of the tape: DAWSON. _Had to be the handwriting of one of Mathieu's assistants_, she thought absently as her right finger almost lovingly caressed the black plastic. A small smile appeared on her face.

"Let's see what you have to show me," she whispered. Taking the tape, she got up and went to the other side of her office, where she inserted it into the recorder. A few seconds later, a man appeared on the screen. He stood in front of a small wooden cupboard, his back to the camera. Zoll needed some seconds before she finally noticed a pale long-fingered, but very elegant-looking hand go over of the books that were stuffed in there.

_Books… no, not books_, she shook her head as she finally got a better look at the cupboard when the man moved a bit to the left, _videotapes._ The elegant fingers continued their movement, very quickly, very interested, until…

… until they suddenly darted back as if they had gotten an electric jolt. Zoll heard the man make a noise that sounded like… _like a sob_. She watched the man's shoulders abruptly dropped down as he stared at the tape. After a few seconds in which he did not make a move, he finally extended his right hand to the tape and began to caress it, letting his fingers move gently up and down, up and down – over and over. Like a man who touched the woman he loved. Though she was hours and miles away from the man on the screen, Zoll for a moment could feel his sorrow and pain as if it was her own.

She almost unconsciously extended her left hand to touch the screen, as he suddenly took the tape out of the cupboard, and then turned his face now visible to the camera. Zoll's eyes widened and she gasped in slight shock, at the same time making a step backwards.

"Methos," she whispered, absolutely not having expected the Ancient now. His face was pale, and his eyes… Zoll shuddered. There was such loneliness in them that Zoll found herself unable to bear their look any longer.

Feeling her heart make some almost painful beats, she watched the Ancient go to the small TV, Dawson had bought a few years ago, and insert the tape in the recorder. A second later, a young pale-looking woman with long dark hair appeared on the small screen in front of the Ancient. His back once again was turned to the camera now, so Zoll no longer was able to see his face; although a part of her almost was thankful because she wasn't sure if she would have been capable to endure the expression in his eyes again.

She focussed her attention on the video. The woman was sitting on a white chair that stood on a small Mediterranean-looking terrace. According to the relatively dark sky Zoll could see there, she guessed that it had to be evening. The smile on the woman's face widened as she looked directly into the camera… straight into Zoll's eyes, as if she knew that Zoll was watching. This feeling only lasted for a short second, but it made the doctor step back, her fingers shaking slightly now, her breathing fast.

_Stupid_, she angrily shook her head thinking about her own reaction, _how could she know… this is only a tape_. Forcing herself to relax again, she noticed now that the Ancient had set down on the small chair in front of the TV, his arms around his legs, his head resting on his knees as he stared at the screen. Like a small child, Zoll thought.

"Hello, Joe," she suddenly heard the voice of the woman come from the TV. It was a very beautiful voice, full of warmth. "As you can see behind me, " the woman pointed at the country card Zoll could see there, "we are in Athens now. We visited the Acropolis yesterday… You should have been here, it is so wonderful." The woman turned a bit more to the camera and extended a hand, so that the imaginary watcher was able to see a small golden bracelet hanging around her left wrist.

"Isn't this beautiful?" Zoll then heard her continue, her enthusiasm audible in her voice. "Adam bought it for me in one of the small stores you find everywhere around here. You wouldn't believe it but…"

Suddenly a loud noise interrupted the whole scene. Very surprised, Zoll needed some seconds until her mind registered that the noise's source was her own cell phone. "Zoll." she finally answered it.

At the other end of the line, she heard her secretary's voice. "MacRyan would like to know if you could meet him on Thursday at 10. Is that all right with you or should I decline the meeting?"

"No, no," Zoll answered still a bit stunned about the sudden interruption, "that's all right with me, thank you Melanie."

"You're welcome," she heard her secretary answer before she hung up the line. Turning back to the screen, she once again found herself looking in the face of the pale woman.

"…beautiful here," Zoll heard her say, "the air is so clear, so different from everything I know. I never would have dreamed that I would be able to be here, to…. " her voice suddenly trailed off until it was only a whisper; the expression on her face changed from happiness to sorrow. "… to live."

Sad eyes now looked into the camera, and Zoll suddenly noticed the dark shadows and the not only pale but white looking skin, and she suddenly realized that the woman was ill – very ill.

Zoll was not able to follow the thought because the Ancient now unexpectedly got up from the chair, and stepped right in front of the TV, extending his right hand to touch the woman's face. Zoll saw that his fingers were shaking as he caressed the lines of her face.

"Alexa," she then heard him whisper, in his voice such a loneliness that she felt a sudden pain burn in her own stomach. "Alexa." For a short moment, there was such a strong connection to the lonely man in front of her that she forgot that she was watching a tape. She extended one hand…

… and blinked totally aghast as she suddenly heard the noise of a door. She saw the Ancient turn and look into the direction of the camera. His face was wet with tears, and the expression on it… Zoll shuddered.

Joe Dawson entered the room. She saw several different feelings wash over the old watcher's face as he noticed the Immortal. First surprise, then slight anger until his look obviously fell on the screen of the small TV. Immediately the expression on his face softened, and Zoll could see sadness and understanding appear in his eyes.

"A message from Alexa," she then heard his gentle voice as the watcher stepped next to the Ancient. He laid his right hand on his shoulder. "She sent it from Greece…" Zoll watched both men look at the ill woman, who was still smiling into the camera. After a few moments, the woman winked. "Goodbye," Zoll heard her beautiful voice before the screen suddenly went black.

For several minutes, there was no sound in the room as both men continued to stare at the dark screen. "She was happy," Zoll, who suddenly became aware that she had stopped breathing, heard Dawson say, "I mean really happy… Because of you." The old watcher took his hand away from the Ancient's shoulder while he stepped back to the door again. There he once again turned. "If you want a beer you should hurry, or Mac is going to drink it."

After Dawson had closed the door behind him, the Ancient silently continued to stare at the screen before him. Then Zoll saw a shudder go through his body. A few seconds later, he finally went to the recorder.

"Goodbye Alexa," Zoll heard him whisper as he took the tape out before he put it back to the cupboard. Then he turned and Zoll could see his face become emotionless again, a mask now replacing the human feelings again.

A second later, he switched off the light and the screen of Zoll's TV went dark. It left her with a slight feeling of emptiness. _Maybe sometimes things are too private_, she thought as she finally took the tape out.

She hesitated for a short second before she went back to her desk, where she laid the tape into the bottom drawer, and then left her office.

**END.**


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